Arrived Safe and Sound

Received this email this morning from Ryan (notice the legitimate Mongolian... no more me trying to piece the language together!) :

сайн ъайцгаан уу?

Greetings from монгол! It's 4:39 here and I'm running on straight adrenaline rush- what a day! First off, sorry for the quick exit last night... or a week ago? My concept of time has been completely shifted. The plane was boarding and I was getting glared at by my two companions. The flight was great, it's been way too long since I've been on a plane, between that and sleeping for a good part of the LA to Beijing made it a really quick trip, and it still blows my mind that I'm half a world away from you all. The whole flight was a great time to read the Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ so it helped me really keep a focus on the task at hand. You asked how I felt about the trip. Just amazingly excited, I couldn't believe that I was actually going to Mongolia finally! We've been talking about this one for 8 months now people! Met with President Mecham just barely, how great it was to see him again! Keep him and Sister Mecham in your prayers, he carries an incredible responsibility and it has to be difficult without his companion.

A little bit about the trip, LA was a really short delay so we didn't get to do much there besides check in and then board the plane. We arrived in Beijing at 3:40 pm your time, 5 am there. It is a massive, high tech place, and there was NO one there! So it took off any culture shock we would've felt there, if anything the Air China flight from LA was the Chinese experience for this trip. Tried using a payphone to call you all, but all 3 of us had no idea how to get a call through to the states, so apologies on that one. Enjoyed a tasty breakfast of eggs and bacon at a pizza hut (I know right?) then we were on an Air China flight to Mongolia!

Since arriving it has been orientation, orientation, and a lot of starry-eyed American missionaries walking around UB. I ATE MONGOLIAN FOOD! At a legit гуанз (kinda like a cafe in America, slightly Betos style... so I loved it!) Ate some ъууз (delish meat dumplings) and цойван (about as close of a Mongolian food experience that we had pre-mission, noodles with meat and peppers)... delish. Now I'm off to do who knows what, hopefully I will meet my companion, we'll stay at the mission home tonight and I'll be in my apartment tomorrow! I love you all and wish you were here seeing this! It really is a world that we have no idea about- it hasn't fully hit me yet, but l am seeing lots of things, that you can't live here and not be changed by. It is incredible! I love you all and will send you some pics in my next P Day- which are Mondays here. хайртай шүү!

Ахлагч жолий

This extra little addition we received this morning as well from Elder and Sister Powell (one of the senior couples serving there also. Jeff knows Sister Powell from working at Covey Leadership!)

Hello Jeff, I am happy to report that your son arrived safely in Mongolia this afternoon. It was so fun to meet him. He looks so much like you. He is a very "strapp'n" young man. He looks very confident and seems happy to be here. You should be very proud of him.

We talked to him about the organization where he will be teaching English. He has one of the harder assignments. His sponsor is Instruction Federation. They are a government agency and he will be teaching 14 hours a week. We will keep you posted about his progress. Let us know if you have any questions. It will be so fun to work with him.

Sincerely, Elder and Sister Powell